Into the Fire
by anonymous-angel
Summary: (PG13 for now, rating may change) Rumors of a new Metal Gear prototype bring Snake and Otacon to a remote desert compound with Philanthropy’s quest of eradicating all Metal Gear projects. But the mission turns out to be more than they bargained for whe


DISCLAIMER: Much as I'd like to, I don't own anything from the Metal Gear series -.- Everything except for the characters you don't recognize belong to Hideo Kojima and Konami, etc. All the other characters, etc. belong to anonymous_angel. (i.e., up to this point, Ladinia)  
  
SUMMARY: Rumors of a new Metal Gear prototype bring Snake and Otacon to a remote desert compound with Philanthropy's quest of eradicating all Metal Gear projects. But the mission turns out to be more than they bargained for when new enemies arise.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello wonderful readers! Please be gentle, this is my first Metal Gear story and I hope that it is worthy of reading. I'm trying my best to make sure there aren't any errors in this one and to keep the characters as much like their normal selves as possible. I really appreciate reviews and would love to know what you think about this fan- fiction. And whether or not I should continue it. I know there really isn't too much action in this first chapter, but it'll pick up soon, I promise! Each chapter will be given a rating depending on the amount of violence, etc. contained within. The main rating will eventually be PG-13 or R. Pretty please Read&Review:) Thanks! ~anonymous_angel~  
  
INTO THE FIRE anonymous_angel  
  
  
  
Ch.1 Rating: PG (Ratings may vary from chapter to chapter.)  
  
*** * *** * *** * ***  
  
CHAPTER ONE: SO MUCH FOR GOOD LUCK  
  
He crept around the corner, eyes searching the surrounding area meticulously. The grip of a well-worn SOCOM pistol rested firmly in his gloved hand. He flexed his fingers and pressed his back against the wall. Footsteps.  
  
One. Two. Three.  
  
Three steps. Pause, turn. One. Two. Three. Pause. Four. Five.  
  
He stood for a moment, just listening to the unsuspecting pace of the guard. The same path he had probably walked since being stationed here. The process was repeated again, twice more.  
  
The guard was about to take his fifth step when a tapping noise caught his attention. Light and barely perceptible. The guard glanced about and held his rifle at the ready, carefully balanced in front of his body. The mask that covered his face was stifling in the heat of the compound. He removed it and wiped the sweat away from his face.  
  
After deciding that the noise was probably just his imagination, the guard moved back to his patrol. But there it was again. Steadier this time, a strong rapping sound against the metal wall. There was a slight echo in the narrow hallway and he couldn't quite tell where the noise had come from. Left or right. A simple decision; which to check first.  
  
These men that he worked for were dangerous, he knew. He was just a guard, they had no use for him if he allowed anything to slip by. But he also knew of the other incidents that had occurred with these people. Not that anybody deemed him fit to know of such things. He was, after all, just a guard. And the ones responsible for those isolated 'incidents' were safely dead now, anyway. No concern of his, certainly.  
  
He moved forward, his thoughts having revived his confidence. Raising his rifle higher and aiming to the left side of the corridor he questioned, "Who is there?"  
  
And from the right side he was shoved into the wall and his rifle swiftly knocked from his hands.  
  
"What the hell.!?" the guard managed to exclaim before a quick blow to the back of his skull sent him reeling into unconsciousness.  
  
"How's the parameter look?"  
  
Snake removed a small box of cigarettes from a pocket and withdrew one, lighting it up as he lifted the unconscious guard and dragged him toward an unlit corner. Nobody would discover the guard until he was far away from the area.  
  
"Light surveillance," he replied over the Codec. He heard Otacon sigh lightly, tapping away at the keyboard of his computer. "Too light if those rumors you heard were true."  
  
"Hmm." Otacon trailed off, his fingers tapping at the keys again. "We still have to check it out. We can't risk a new Metal Gear prototype getting lose." He paused. "By the way. You really shouldn't-"  
  
"-Be smoking, I know," Snake finished for him, shaking his head. "But they're-"  
  
"-A good luck charm, I know," Otacon replied, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "They may be good luck to you, but they're terrible luck for your health."  
  
"I'm still kicking, aren't I?"  
  
"I suppose so." Otacon frowned as Snake smiled. He turned back to his computer screen. He had a radar image of the entire compound, which stretched over two miles of desert. Two miles of barren, uninhabited desert. It was too remote to be coincidence, especially with this kind of information, not to mention the fact that the informant he had used had never served him wrong before. "You think it could be some sort of trap?" he asked after a moment's thought.  
  
"It's possible." Snake replied, watching a patrol soldier walk past from a shadowed alcove. "But like you said, we can't risk not checking this out. Trap or no trap, we've got to find out what's going on."  
  
"Just be careful," Otacon said, ending the connection. He tapped at the keyboard again. The compound, according to his informant, was supposed to be a housing facility for a new Metal Gear program. The informant had said that the leader of this new group was a woman by the name of Ladinia. The new Metal Gear was a prototype and still in the testing stages, technicians and scientists working through the night on new developments.  
  
And yet security was still rather low for such a place. He supposed it was probably due to the remote location. Not many people would see fit to travel to the middle of nowhere just for the hell of it. Of course, they had a reason.  
  
*** Snake knocked out another guard with a swift punch and pulled him out of sight. If there was a new Metal Gear here, he'd find it.  
  
Otacon's informant hadn't told them much beyond the location and name of this mysterious Ladinia. And for that matter, they had no idea who she was or what she looked like. There weren't any files on her and nobody else had ever heard of her. She wasn't even in the military records. Not that the military was very forthcoming with that information but that was Otacon's specialty, not his.  
  
After dispersing of the single guard, he crept up through the corridor, glancing around him and scanning for any stray surveillance cameras. They had no idea where the Metal Gear could actually be; there didn't seem to be any facilities here large enough for one. But that was excluding the possibility of an underground holding area.  
  
He stopped at the end of the hall. A large metal door loomed over the exit and there wasn't any place for a keycard or any indication of what level was required to open the door. He looked around it, searching for some kind of keypad or retinal scanner. There was none. He pushed at the door experimentally, not at all surprised when it didn't budge.  
  
"Otacon."  
  
"I'm already working on it," Otacon replied over the Codec. Snake could hear the tell-tale sounds of that keyboard again, clicking away hastily but efficiently.  
  
"It has a strange locking system," Otacon muttered, frowning at the computer screen.  
  
"Can you open it?" Snake asked him, checking the hallway again for any wandering guards.  
  
"I'm not sure yet." Otacon frowned again. "Look for a panel near the floor somewhere, not necessarily right by the door."  
  
Snake glanced around. There was only so much room in the narrow hallway and the small alcove near the door had metal piping running all along the walls. Something in the dim light caught his eye and he looked through a set of twin pipes at a tiny square on the wall.  
  
"Did you find something?" Otacon questioned.  
  
"Maybe," Snake replied, reaching through the pipes with a gloved hand and feeling around the edge of the slightly raised square of metal. After a moment of pulling, the metal covering slipped free and Snake leaned it against the wall to inspect the interior.  
  
Underneath the metal covering was a mass of circuits and wires.  
  
"What now?" he asked Otacon.  
  
"Hold on." More tapping on the keyboard. "The door has an odd code sequence. The locking mechanism reacts to a vital analysis imprinted on a small hand-held device. But I think I can find a way to bypass the mechanism without attracting much attention. We'll have to be quick though. As soon as the door is open get out of the area or find a place to hide. These doors are probably monitored by computer from somewhere, even if there isn't a security camera."  
  
Snake nodded and glanced back at the door, waiting for Otacon's instructions.  
  
"Push those wires in front to the side. There should be a thin green wire in the back. Do you see it?"  
  
"I see it," Snake replied, holding the wire carefully between his index finger and thumb.  
  
"Take that green wire and cut it," Otacon instructed. "Then take the next one, that thick purplish one and splice them together."  
  
Snake did as Otacon instructed. Almost as soon as the metal wires touched one another, a small blue spark leapt from them. He folded them together, careful to avoid getting shocked. He heard Otacon type something into the computer again and after a minute or two the door slid open with a soft hiss.  
  
"What did you do?" Snake asked him casually, stepping through the door, SOCOM ready for any surprises. Through the door was a thin metal catwalk that led across a wide-open room. He stepped away from the door, which slid closed behind him again.  
  
"I just hacked into the system. Splicing those wires gave me easy access to that part of the network. With any luck, the other locks shouldn't be much of a problem."  
  
Snake nodded vaguely and leaned over the round metal railing that was about waist high. The catwalk rose about thirty feet over a large room. crammed wall to wall with soldiers. Snake's eyes widened and he checked in with Otacon, crouching down and scanning the crowd.  
  
"At least now I know where all the security's been hiding," Snake muttered under his breath as Otacon spoke.  
  
"This place isn't on the radar. I can't find this section of the compound anywhere in the computer files."  
  
"You can't hack them?"  
  
"I've been hacking them. It's like it's not even there." Otacon paused for a second, staring at the computer screen. "Whoever these people are, there's a lot more to them than we thought."  
  
Snake glanced out over the crowd of soldiers. This was definitely not a good sign. Everything pointed to another Metal Gear prototype. Another nuclear monster from his nightmares.  
  
He took the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, rolling them over in his hand. He didn't light another one, just looked at the package a moment and sighed softly, putting them back in their customary spot. So much for good luck.  
  
END CHAPTER ONE.  
  
Thanks to any and everyone who read this first chapter to the end. There's more to be continued soon! Send me all your comments and suggestions!  
  
Review! Review! Review! 


End file.
